On Wednesday 10th October the whole school took part in 'What's Under Your Feet'. This is the first of three surveys we will be carrying out this academic year. The others will be in March and June. We carried out three surveys last year as well.
The effects of the long, hot summer were still apparent, with far fewer invertebrates to be found, compared to last October and a great deal of variation from one sample hole to another. It will be interesting to see what March brings!
The campaign is promoted by
Jointhepod.org working with
The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).
Research by the BTO has shown declining numbers of many kinds of birds, which may be caused in part by a reduction in the amount of food available. In particular, the BTO want to know about numbers of soil invertebrates which many birds feed on.
By recruiting schools across the country to take part in the project, they are collecting a mass of data to analyse.
Once again groups of children from all year groups dug up 30cm squares of turf from the school field, the area by the school garden, and the green space next to school.
The children counted the number and size of worms and any other creatures that they discovered.
